Protection element or attachment for safety glove fingers

ABSTRACT

Protective element or attachment to place on a glove finger, consisting in a resistant, hard piece with a half-round shape, closed at its end and open at the opposite end and partly on its lateral sides. Moreover, said element has its top part in the shape of an elongated semicircle connected to a half-ring. Additionally, the safety glove having at least one protective element located at the top dorsal part of one of the glove fingers is described.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention. relates to the field. of industrial safety, morespecifically to the safety of the fingertips.

The present invention consists in a protective element, for fingerscorresponding to a special attachment which is fixed to the fingertipsof a safety glove, so that the fingertips are protected from smashes,bumps, scratches, cuts or pricks in carrying out a potentially dangerousjob. The attachment is a piece made of hard, resistant material with ashape similar to that of a half-round closed on one end, which providesprotection and does not interfere with fine motor skill and the sense ofcomfort in its use

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In order to protect workers from all the risks arising from handlingsharp tools or materials, cutting edges, metal swarf, certain bumps andmany other physical risks, appropriate Workplace Safety measures need tobe taken to prevent accidents.

Particularly for protecting hands from the described risks, there aredifferent types of Gloves made from different materials which conform toWorkplace Safety requirements.

Safety gloves must be worn by all Company personnel, both production andsupervision, exposed to the detailed risks. Thus, the present inventionsolves the problem of workplace safety, since a third of work accidentsin the industry involves fingers, hands and arms.

A myriad of work gloves used in the industry are widely known, whichhave incorporated specific elements according to the activity to becarried out. The most widely used gloves are leather gloves, which havebeen modified, e.g. reinforced by incorporating a larger number oflayers in those areas which. are more exposed to damages by cuts,scratches, etc. Moreover, their stitching design has been modified,making them more resistant, or elements like rubber or PVC chloride)dots have been incorporated so as to make them non-slip.

Some researches have addressed the problem, of finger protection, e.g.with metal elements, such as patent US2008216209 which incorporatesmetal rings around the fingers, incorporated in the glove; however, thiswill only provide a certain degree of protection to the fingers. Withthese rings, the glove does not lose flexibility or ease of handling,but provides only partial protection.

Furthermore, numerous patents have attempted to solve the problem ofprotecting specific areas of the hand, such as nails, e.g. patentUS20110041225, which refers to a glove having protective pads locatedinside the glove at the top dorsal part of the fingertips to prevent thetop of the fingers from being damaged due to contact with the outsideand rubbing or friction against the inner surface of the glove. Theprotective pads can be made of a soft or smooth material to avoidscratching, filing or damaging nails.

Another example is patent US20100071114, which relates to a constructionglove comprising a glove in the shape of a human hand, said glove havingend portions associated therewith, and a plurality of protectors in theform of elongated. members extending substantially along the length ofthe fingers and thumb, adjacent portions of the tips of the fingers andthumb, a layer having upper and lower surfaces. However, this designprevents the development of an activity requiring fine motor skill,since the protective elements incorporated at the finger length makes itvery rigid.

In patent JP2009062649, a hand protector is incorporated, obtained bycovering finger parts corresponding to the second finger through thefifth finger of a glove with a tubular reinforcement comprising aplurality of tubes, wherein workability is reduced because thereinforcement elements are tubular. This patent incorporates tubularelements along the entire length of the finger, i.e. the inner and outersides of the finger, thereby making handling very difficult.

Thus, the present invention addresses a problem which has no solution inthe Prior art, fully satisfying safety requirements without compromisingfine motor skill for manipulation.

Therefore, the object of the present. invention is to develop aprotective element for a glove finger.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention consists in a protective element or attachment fora glove finger and a glove having at least one of said elements,corresponding to a protective attachment made of a resistant material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

To better explain the present invention, reference is made to thefollowing accompanying figures, which are illustrative and not limitingof the invention.

FIG. 1 schematically depicts the finger protecting

attachment.

FIG. 2 schematically shows any finger, the contour of the glove (2) andthe protective element (1) located at the tip of the glove.

FIG. 3 shows the side view of the protective element of the presentinvention proposed herein.

FIG. 4 shows the rear view of the protective element of the presentinvention.

FIG. 5 shows the top view of the protective element of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The need of a protecting element for the fingers, without reducingmobility and comfort, leads to the idea of incorporating a specialattachment at the ends of the glove fingers protecting the fingertipsfrom bumps, cuts, scratches, pricks or hard smashes, such that there isone protective element or attachment per finger and every glove maycontain as many protective elements as fingers. This attachment is apiece with a shape similar to that shown in FIG. 1.

The present invention consists in a. protective element or attachmentmade of different resistant materials, such as, but not limited to: hardplastic, polymeric materials such as polyamide, glass fiber or metal.This attachment is glued or fixed firmly to each end of the glove,either on the inside outside thereof, and contemplates a heightcarefully designed not to obstruct handling. The piece may undergo minorvariations in shape and size depending on the finger to which thisattachment will be attached, with the possibility of being incorporatedto one or more fingers, as required, but the concept will remain thesame—to serve as protection for the fingers.

The protecting element or attachment differs significantly from theexisting inventions having the same objective, mainly because its shapeconsiders not only factors regarding the effective protection ofextremities, which is the main objective, but also ergonomic factorswhich provide incomparable benefits as to the fine motor skill and senseof comfort in its use, as compared to the models comprising a fullprotective cover of the extremity. This is explained by the fact thatthe protective covers proposed herein rarely contact each other, giventhey are located on the glove fingers, generating less friction andinterference among the fingers when the glove is being used. This isalso because the inventive protective element contemplates the backsupports at the height of the first phalanges of the fingers, which arenaturally located at different distances from the base of the hand inaccordance with the different lengths of the fingers.

The protective element or attachment may be made of various hardmaterials and has a half-round shape closed on its end and open at theopposite end and partly on its lateral sides, wherein said attachment islocated at the distal end of the back of the glove fingers, and saidelement has its top in the shape of an elongated semicircle connected toa half-ring, its lateral side is discontinuous and the front end closed.

The glove having at least one of said protective elements or accessoriesis also described.

1. A protective element or attachment to place on a glove finger,consisting in a resistant, hard piece with a half-round shape, closed atits end and open at the opposite end and partly on its lateral sides. 2.The protective element or attachment according to claim 1, wherein theglove is a safety glove and wherein at least one protective element islocated at the top dorsal part of one of the glove fingers and saidelement has its top in the shape of an elongated semicircle connected toa half-ring.
 3. The protective element or attachment of claim 1, whereinat least two protective elements are located at the top dorsal part ofat least two glove fingers, such that the glove has a protective elementon each of the two fingers and said elements have their top part in theshape of an elongated semicircle connected to a half-ring.
 4. Theprotective element or attachment according to claim 1, wherein saidattachment is made of metal.
 5. The protective element or attachmentaccording to claim 1, wherein said attachment is made of hard plastic.6. The protective element or attachment according to claim 1, whereinsaid attachment is made of glass fiber.
 7. The protective element orattachment according to any claim 1, wherein said attachment is made ofpolymeric materials such as polyamide.
 8. A safety glove comprising atleast one protective element or attachment which is glued or fixed tothe top dorsal part of at least one of the fingers of said glove andwherein said protective element or attachment consists of a hard,resistant piece with a half-round shape, closed on its end and open onthe opposite end and partly on its lateral sides.
 9. A safety gloveaccording to claim 8, wherein at least two protective elements arelocated at the top dorsal part of at least two glove fingers, such thatthe glove has a protective element on each of the two fingers and saidelements have their top part in the shape of an elongated semicircleconnected to a half-ring
 10. A safety glove according to claim 8 or 9,wherein said attachment is made of metal.
 11. A safety glove accordingto claim 8, wherein said attachment is made of hard plastic.
 12. Asafety glove according to claim 8, wherein said attachment is made ofglass fiber.
 13. A safety glove according to claim 8, wherein saidattachment is made of polymeric materials such as polyamide.